Who is Moses in the Old Testament?

Answer 1

• Moses was a man in The Bible times that brought the Israelites out of Egypt. This was probably the time during one of the Ramesses.
• Some non-christian scholars and others, such as the referenced Robert G. Ingersol (1833-1899, Golden Age of Freethought) have debated if Moses was a historical figure or a myth.

• Moses was a direct participant in most of the events in and writer of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy in the Bible. Genesis, some of which was undoubtedly passed down to him in either written or oral form, was compiled and edited into its present form by him. Despite the greatness of his personal achievements and the great responsibility he undertook under trying conditions brought about primarily by the intransigence of the Israelites, Moses was described as an exceedingly humble person, although he did get a little cranky at times.

• The main character of the Jewish story of the flight from Egypt.

• Moses is absolutely central to Judaism. Moses spoke to God and followed his commands. He led the people out of Egypt and witnessed many miracles in the wilderness. Moses built the Ark of the Covenant as God commanded and received the ten commandments. Some say that there is no evidence that Moses ever existed.

• Jesus often referred to Moses as the Old Testament prophet, who led Israel out of Egypt (The Exodus). Speaking to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, Jesus said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up (on the Cross), that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:14,15. Throughout the entire New Testament, Moses is referred to as the prophet who led Isreal, received the commandments of God and wrote the five books of the Pentateuch (Torah).
• Moses was born 245 years after the death of Abraham. Pharaoh had decreed that Israelite boys be killed (Exodus ch.1), but the daughter of Pharaoh took pity on the infant Moses (Exodus ch.2) and raised him as her own son. He was forced to flee after killing a cruel Egyptian taskmaster, and went to Midian, where he wedded the daughter of Jethro. He eventually achieved the highest level of prophecy (Deuteronomy ch.34) and was called upon by God (Exodus ch.3). He brought the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery (Exodus ch.12). He received the Torah from God (Exodus 24:12) and later recorded it in writing (Deuteronomy 31:24). He went up on Mount Sinai for 40 days and nights (Deuteronomy ch.9-10) and brought down the Two Stone Tablets with the Ten Commandments (Exodus 31:18). He brought the Israelites into the covenant with God (Exodus ch.19 and ch.24), and he oversaw the building of the Tabernacle (Exodus ch.35-40). He was the humblest of men and the greatest of prophets (Numbers ch.12).

Answer 2

AnswerIn prophetic power, spiritual insight, and leadership qualifications, Moses ranks with the mightiest men who ever lived. He is known as 'The Law Giver', even Christ was describes as a Prophet like unto this ancient leader of Israels hosts. (Deut. 18:15-19).

It was Moses, via divine guidance, who led God's people out of the land of Egypt.

In all of this it is recorded that Moses was a humble man. His ongoing legacy is in the five books he either authored directly or edited into their final form (Genesis).

Moses was the man who liberated the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. Let's start with why the Israelites were in slavery in the first place. About four hundred years prior to the time Moses came onto the scene, there was a man named Abraham. Abraham and his wife, Sarah, were barren, and unable to conceive a child. This, however, did not stop God. He promised Abraham that his descendants would be "like the stars of the sky in number and multitude," and that it would be impossible to count them. (You can read this part of Abraham's story in Genesis 13:14-18; 15:5-6, 13-15; 17:1-8, 16-19; 18:9-15, 21:1-8) .

Well, Abraham's son, Isaac, had a son named Jacob. Jacob had twelve sons, and was later renamed Israel by God. One of his sons, Joseph, was sold into Egyptian slavery by his own brothers, but God was with him and elevated him to prime minister of Egypt. His Egyptian name was Zaphanaphanaia (what a mouthful) and he was the most powerful man in the land, excepting the Pharaoh. During Joseph's time in power, he had been storing food for the first seven years he was in office, because God had revealed that there were going to be seven years of plenty and then seven years of harsh famine following this. When his brothers finally straggled into Joseph's hands, starving and desperate, Joseph dealt harshly with them to see if they were sorry for selling him into slavery. Finally, after testing his brothers, he found them to be sincerely repentant for what they had done.

So, Joseph invited his whole family, anyone who belonged to Israel's (Jacob's) household, that is, to live with him in the best land of Egypt, Goshen. Joseph's family, Abraham's descendants, moved to Egypt and prospered there for many years. They grew mighty in number and soon began to threaten the Egyptian way of life. Consequently, the Pharaoh, who did not remember Joseph had saved them from the famine, made all the Israelites slaves in the land. (You can read all this in Genesis 37- 45; and Exodus 1).

Well, God hated the slavery of His people, so he sent a deliverer, Moses, to liberate them from the hands of Egypt. (Moses' story is in Exodus 2) When Moses was forty, he killed an Egyptian taskmaster who was beating an Israelite slave; Pharaoh's anger burned hotly, and Moses was forced to flee Egypt. He eventually wandered into the camp of Jethro, a Midianite shepherd. Here, Moses married one of Jethro's daughters, and tended his sheep for another forty years. When Moses was eighty, he received a message from God telling him that it was time to free the slaves down in Egypt. ( Exodus 3-4:1-17, 27-31) Moses resisted at first, but God informed him it was not an option. Moses went.

When Moses got to Egypt and had talked to Pharaoh, Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go. So God visited plagues on Egypt, ten of them, to convince Pharaoh that he was fighting a useless battle. The ten plagues were these:

1) The rod of Moses turned the Nile river to blood, making it undrinkable and causing the fish to die; every bit of water in Egypt turned to blood, even that not connected to the Nile.

2) Frogs overtook the land and inhabited every square inch of it.

3) Lice afflicted every person in Egypt.

4) Flies bit every living thing. (Up until this time the Israelites had not been spared, but from this plague on out, the Israelites were completely unaffected).

5) All the livestock of the land were smitten and died.

6) Unhealable boils broke out on every person in Egypt, excepting the Israelites.

7) Hail and thunder poured from heaven, killing all who refused to take shelter.

8) Locusts devoured every green thing in Egypt.

9) Darkness covered the land for three days, and was so oppresively dark that no Egyptian could even move from their bed. However, there was light in the Israelite camp.

10) This was the worst plague of all- all the male firstborns in the land were killed by the Angel of Death. (This is where the Passover came from- God instituted these practices originally to spare the children of Israel from the death of their firstborns).

After all this, Pharaoh finally let the Israelites go free. Moses led the Israelites for all the rest of the days of his life, bringing them to the brink of the Promised Land (the land that God had promised Abraham all those years ago), left them in the hands of Joshua, and died on Mt. Nebo in the country of Moab at the age of one-hundred twenty years. Moses was the one who God gave the Ten Commandments to, who wrote down or at least edited all the history from the beginning of the Bible through the book of Joshua, who wrote down every law and commandment that God laid before His people, and who took cared of and interceeded for the Israelites whenever they disobeyed God or despaired of reaching the Promised Land alive. He is the only one to have spoken to God face to face, and is one of the Bible's most well-known characters. In short, he was a very holy man of God who was willing to follow his Lord to anywhere he would care to lead.

Answer 3

well he was a person

second answer: and? one of the things he did was when Egypt made the israelites their slaves he freed them

third answer: Didn't he also grow up as an Egyptian Prince but then found out that he was really an Israelite? I think so.....

forth answer: yep he did. he was also a prophet, and couldn't speak cause he took a dumb test when younger, if he was smart he would die, so he pretended to be dumb, so some one talked for him, but God led and talked to him.

Answer 4

-An ancient Hebrew descendant of Levi, patriarch of the tribe of Levi, who stood at roughly 6'4 or 5, weighing roughly 175 lbs, by Arab beduin tradition.

-Moses was tall and slender, far as skin tone, very dark olive, almost swarthy in complexion, he was indeed thickly bearded upon maturity, he had a long sharp nose, a wide mouth, full lips, and owl-like eyes, they were huge and black.

-By all Arab accounts and traditions, he had a brother Aaron. Arab accounts are important, because Moses lived with the Midianites, ancient Beduin Arabs who passed down the tradition to other Beduin.

Answer 5

Moses is absolutely central to Judaism. Moses spoke to God and followed his commands. He led the people out of Egypt and witnessed many miracles in the wilderness. Moses built the Ark of the Covenant as God commanded and received the ten commandments. But there is no evidence outside the Bible, that Moses ever existed.

Moses would have been a most fortunate boy, because he alone among the Israelite boys in Egypt survived the massacre of male infants. His mother placed him in a basket and hid him in the reeds along the Nile river, where the pharaoh's daughter discovered him. The problem for the historicity of this story is that eighty years later, there were 600,000 fighting men among the Israelites in Egypt. If the story of Moses' infancy is true, where did these men come from, and who were their fathers?

For more information on Moses in history and tradition, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/theology/moses-in-history-and-tradition

Answer 6

Moses is absolutely central to Judaism. In the Bible, Moses spoke to God and followed his commands. He led the people out of Egypt and witnessed many miracles in the wilderness. Moses built the Ark of the Covenant as God commanded and received the ten commandments. But there is no evidence outside the Bible, that Moses ever existed.

Moses would have been a most fortunate boy, because he alone among the Israelite boys in Egypt survived the massacre of male infants. His mother placed him in a basket and hid him in the reeds along the Nile river, where the pharaoh's daughter discovered him. The problem for the historicity of this story is that eighty years later, there were 600,000 fighting men among the Israelites in Egypt. If the story of Moses' infancy is true, where did these men come from, and who were their fathers? With the assistance of Archaeology and exegesis, scholars have gradually come to the now strong consensus that Moses did not really exist outside the Bible.

For more information on Moses in history and tradition, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/theology/moses-in-history-and-tradition

Answer 7

Moses was an Israelite, a great-great grandson of Jacob. He was born 245 years after the death of Abraham. The time when Moses was born was when the Pharaoh had ordered his people to kill all Israelite male infants because he (Pharaoh) was afraid that the Israelites would become too strong for him (Exodus ch.1-2).

Moses' mother didn't want him to die. So she made a basket for him and put him in it to float in the Nile reeds. He was found by Pharaoh's daughter, who took pity on him (Exodus ch.2) and raised him as her own son.

Moses was forced to flee after killing a cruel Egyptian taskmaster, and went to Midian, where he wedded the daughter of Jethro.

He eventually achieved the highest level of prophecy (Deuteronomy ch.34) and was called upon by God (Exodus ch.3). He brought the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery (Exodus ch.12). He received the Torah from God (Exodus 24:12) and later recorded it in writing (Deuteronomy 31:24). He went up on Mount Sinai for 40 days and nights (Deuteronomy ch.9-10) and brought down the Two Stone Tablets with the Ten Commandments (Exodus 31:18). He brought the Israelites into the covenant with God (Exodus ch.19 and ch.24), and he oversaw the building of the Tabernacle (Exodus ch.35-40). He was the humblest of men and the greatest of prophets (Numbers ch.12).

See also:

What problems did Moses face and overcome?

Was Moses a real person?

How did Moses know he was an Israelite?

1) In those days, Israelite custom was to nurse babies for up to four years. Since it was his own mother who nursed him (Exodus 2:8-9), his family had plenty of time to teach him before he was returned to Pharaoh's daughter (Exodus 2:10) to live in the palace.
2) Moses was not a prisoner in the royal palace. He came and went as he pleased (Exodus 2:11 and 2:13) and sought out his people (ibid).

Did Moses ever sin or make a mistake?

1) The claim to infallibility is a sure sign of megalomania and prevarication. The Hebrew Bible, because of its Divine origin, kowtows to no man, and prominently spotlights the faults of even its greatest protagonists. In this regard it is unique in ancient literature.

2) Moses' sin is mentioned (Numbers 20:12 and 24) again and again (Numbers ch.27, Deuteronomy ch.32). He struck the rock which was, by a miracle of God, made into a source of water (Numbers ch.20). He was supposed to speak to the rock instead (ibid). Striking the rock served to slightly diminish the miracle.

It should be self-understood that this criticism of Moses is only in proportion to his greatness. In the final analysis, he remained the most godly person who ever lived (Deuteronomy ch.34).

Answer 8

Moses in considered a great prophet, he lead the slaves out of Egypt to the outskirts of Canaan.

Answer 9

Moses is a famous Biblical character who is known for many things such as the Ten Commandments and the plagues on Egypt while the Israelites were in captivity.

Answer 10

Moses is considered by the Jews as their first main prophet , and the leader for them from slavery to the promised land, And the first five books of the old testament are written by Moses.